Tennessee Mosque Gets OK Despite Sharia Law Fears of Opponents

A suburban Nashville Islamic group can build a new mosque, despite the objections of those who believe the house of worship will foster Sharia law in America.

Chancellor Robert Corlew III would not allow an emergency injunction Thursday that would let opponents of the Islamic Center of Murfeesboro to block construction of the building, the Nashville Tennessean reported. Plaintiffs in the case failed to prove the Rutherford County government illegally approved the site or violated any open meetings laws.

Opponents also alleged that the center’s leadership and actually Islam itself was conspiring to usurp American law and replace it with Islamic rules. However the center has actually operated for more than 20 years. Leaders say the mosque’s congregation has simply outgrown its current home and sought proper zoning to build a new one.

J. Thomas Smith and Joe Brandon Jr., attorneys for the plaintiffs said the negotiations between the mosque and the county were done without proper notification and that it put county resisdents in danger. “We need to take what has happened in Murfreesboro out of the shadows of Shariah and shine on what’s happened in the light of freedom,” Smith said to the court.

But Josh McCreary, assistant county attorney argued that the plaintiffs did not offer much to substantiate their accusations. “The plaintiffs came in with their guns blaring saying they were going to prove all these many things, which they have not proven.”